Valentines and Wonderwalls
by CherBella
Summary: A Valentine's Day outtake for the story Nighthawks and Wonderwalls. Not necessary to have read Nighthawks to understand this outtake. Bella is Edward's first real Valentine, and his plans for the evening go slightly awry...


_**All copyright and trademarked items mentioned herein belong to their respective owners. The remaining content is all mine. No copying or reproduction of this work is permitted without my express written authorization.**_

_**A/N: This is just a sweet fluffy little outtake for my story Nighthawks and Wonderwalls. If you are just finding this story, you don't necessarily need to read Nighthawks to understand this outtake. If you'd like to check out the whole story (currently in progress), however, here is the link:**_

_**http://www**__**(dot) fanfiction (dot) net/s/5233637/1/Nighthawks_and_Wonderwalls**_

_**Happy Valentine's Day!**_

* * *

The sound of shattering glass echoed throughout the whole diner. Emmett rolled his eyes and pushed through the swinging door to see what Edward had done now. He found Edward sweeping up the remains of what had been one of their large soda glasses. Edward had been distracted all night. It was only halfway through his shift and he already had dropped a handful of silverware, spilled sugar all over the counter, and knocked a whole glass of water on a customer. He was forgetting things and getting orders wrong. And when he wasn't bumbling and stumbling around, he had his nose buried in some catalog, his eyebrows furrowed and forehead wrinkled in deep concentration.

Emmett sighed and headed over to see what was going on.

"Eddie, my man…" he paused while Edward emptied the dustpan of glass shards into the trash can. "What's up? You're destroying the place tonight!"

Edward just looked up at him with dejected eyes and then slumped down on one of the stools at the counter. He scribbled on his order pad and showed it to Emmett.

_Valentine's Day._

Emmett scratched his head. "You're going to have to give me a little more than that, Ed."

_Valentine's Day is Sunday. I need to get something great for Bella but I've never done this before._

Emmett still looked a little confused so Edward continued writing.

_I've never had a girlfriend on Valentine's Day before._

Emmett's face softened. _Aw, the poor kid…_

"Eddie my boy, listen up." He gave Edward a healthy slap on the back. "Valentine's Day is just a manufactured holiday by the card companies and the candy and flower companies, and the women just lap it all up. It doesn't matter what you get, Bella will just be all gooey-eyed that you even remembered. Don't stress over it, she already likes you–she'll love whatever you get her." He reached over and flipped a couple pages of the catalog over. "Jewelry…oh yeah man you're on the right track there. Bullseye. She'll be eating out of your hand for months." Emmett gave him another gentle slap and moved to head back into the kitchen. Edward tugged on his arm and he turned back toward him.

_What do you get your wife?_

"My Rosie? Aw hell, she's easy. I just get her a dozen roses and a gift certificate to her favorite auto parts store. She's thrilled and I reap the benefits for _weeks_ if you know what I mean." He waggled his eyebrows and winked at Edward, chuckling as he walked away.

Edward just stared after him with a puzzled look on is face. _Auto parts…?  
_

_**~O~X~O~X~O~X~O~X~**_

Bella slowly began to wake. Her eyes felt so heavy and swollen. Her head throbbed and ached as she leaned her body up from the pillow to look at the clock. _Shit!_ She had slept too long! If she didn't get up and get moving she was going to be late. It was Valentine's Day and Edward had insisted they spend the evening together at his place.

Bella groaned as she sat up and dropped her feet to the floor. Chills began to wash over her from the loss of the warm blankets. She felt like crap, her throat was burning, her body felt cold and achy. There was no denying it anymore–she was sick.

The symptoms had started yesterday–sniffling, blowing her nose, a scratchy throat. She drank a gallon of hot tea and she took some zinc lozenges…but apparently none of it had done any good. She'd been resting as much as she could, which is why she was just waking up from another lengthy nap.

She forced herself to get up and head to the bathroom. Once there she gripped the top of the sink and took a look in the mirror. _Crap_, she thought, _I look as bad as I feel_. She sat down on the top of the toilet to rest for a minute before jumping in the shower. But once she did that she didn't want to get back up again. Her energy was zapped and she was starting to shiver again.

Whatever Edward was planning, he had been so excited all week. She would break his heart if she cancelled… but she had to accept that she was too sick to go anywhere. Besides she certainly didn't want him to catch whatever she had.

She shuffled back to bed and grabbed her phone from the nightstand.

_**~O~X~O~X~O~X~O~X~**_

Edward's knee bounced up and down a mile a minute as he sat impatiently on the couch. He checked his watch again. It was two minutes later than the last time he checked. Bella should be here soon. He jumped up and went into the kitchen, opening the oven door to check on dinner. He was useless when it came to cooking so he had ordered some take-out from their favorite Italian restaurant. Lasagna and garlic bread was keeping warm in the oven. Satisfied that everything looked fine, he shut the oven door and turned to the bowl of salad on the counter. It was already well mixed, but he grabbed the tongs and tossed it around a few more times. He moved on to the dining room table to fiddle and fuss with the silverware and placemats, nudging them and straightening them. He lit the candles. When he was done he stood back and surveyed his work with a huge smile. He was so determined to give Bella the perfect Valentine's Day. He actually may have went a little overboard, but he just wanted to show her how much he loved her.

He heard his phone chiming and he fished it out of his pocket.

It was an actual call from Bella…not a text. She never called him, obviously, since he couldn't talk back to her. He frowned a little as he hit the answer button and held it up to his ear.

"Edward?" Her voice croaked; she could barely speak loud enough for him to hear her. "Baby, I'm sorry but I'm not going to be able to come over. I'm sick–achy, chills, my head is pounding and my eyes feel like someone rubbed sandpaper in them." She sniffled and he couldn't tell if it was from the bug she had or if she was crying.

"I tried…but I just don't think I can make it very far. And I don't want to make you sick too." More sniffles. "I'm so, so sorry for ruining our Valentine's Day. I love you. Text me."

And with that she hung up. Edward's bottom lip jutted out in a pout. He was disappointed. But that was quickly replaced with concern for her. His poor girl…she sounded awful. His fingers flew over his phone's text keyboard.

_**Don't even worry about it love! I am just sorry you're feeling so sick. Stay in and take care of yourself! Get your rest. I Love U. E.**_

Edward turned around and blew the candles out and then headed into the kitchen to turn off the oven.

_**~O~X~O~X~O~X~O~X~**_

Bella read Edward's text. Well at least he seemed to understand but she still felt horrible. It was their first Valentine's Day and they couldn't even be together. Her sadness just compounded her physical ailments and as the tears flowed she wished she could just curl up in his arms and have him hold her. Instead she had to settle for curling up around a pillow as she went back to bed.

_**~O~X~O~X~O~X~O~X~**_

In her fog of sleepiness Bella thought she heard a knocking noise but it sounded so far away. Then it stopped…only to be replaced with a buzzing noise. The buzzing was much louder. She moaned and turned her head toward the noise. As she opened her eyes she realized it was her phone. She picked it up and looked at it blearily. A message from Edward:

_**Open your door.**_

_Huh?_ She was still trying to get her bearings when she heard the knocking again. _Open your door…open your door…shit_! she thought, as recognition of his text hit her. She threw the comforter off and scurried out of bed, hurrying down the hall.

She flung open the door and her mouth dropped open. There was a Valentine's Day explosion in front of her door. There were large Mylar heart-shaped balloons bobbing about, a big white teddy bear holding a heart in his paws, and a bouquet of pink and red roses–all encompassed by two arms. Each hand was also full–one was gripping a large shopping bag and the other struggling to hold the balloons. Other than arms and legs, the Valentine bandit was hidden.

Bella's hand flew up to her mouth and she tried to hold in a giggle. "Edward?" she rasped.

Three fingers uncurled from the bag handles and waved at her.

She couldn't help but laugh at the sight before her as she grabbed his arm and drew him through the doorway. "Oh Edward…what is all this?" She started pulling the bear and the flowers from him, finally uncovering his face, and his relieved smile. They moved over to her couch and he set the balloons, which had a weight attached, on the coffee table next to the bear. He sat the bag down on the floor. Bella walked back in from the kitchen, carrying the flowers which were now in a vase of water. She sat that on the table as well, and just stared in amazement at everything.

"Edward, you didn't have to get me all of this!" As she was saying this, Edward was digging around in the bag and pulled two more things out and sat them on the table. One was a red heart-shaped box of candy and the other was a large Styrofoam container. Then he fished out his phone and started typing. When he was done he held the screen up for her to read.

_Since you couldn't come over for Valentine's Day, I brought Valentine's Day to you._

He had the biggest, happiest, grin on his face.

"Clearly! But Edward…all of this? It's too much. I mean, I love it all, but…"

_I couldn't decide on what to get…so I just got it all. You're my first real Valentine Bella; I wanted to do it right._

Her face softened as she read his words. A lump in her throat formed as she thought about being his first Valentine. She reached out and touched his cheek. "You are so sweet to me."

Unfortunately her fatigue was starting to show, and her voice, already weak, was barely a hoarse whisper.

Edward's smile turned to a concerned frown as he took her hand from his face and held his other hand against her forehead to check for fever. She rolled her eyes at him and ducked away from his hand. He reached for his phone again.

_How r u? You're losing your voice and u look flushed. Have you eaten?_

She almost lied and said she was feeling better but at that exact moment the adrenaline from seeing Edward and all his Valentine paraphernalia at her door started to wane and she could feel the fatigue creeping in again. She shivered with a chill and tried to answer him but hardly any sound came out. Frustrated and tired she could only look at him woefully, through half-lidded watery eyes.

He gave her a sympathetic smile.

_Looks like neither one of us can speak now! Come on, let's get you back to bed, my sick sweetie._

He shepherded her back to bed, made sure she was comfortable and tucked her into the covers. He left the room and before long he was back with a tray containing a mug of hot tea and a bowl of soup. On the way over he had stopped at the diner and picked up some chicken noodle soup, that was what had been in the Styrofoam container. Edward stretched out on the bed next to her and cuddled close to her, constantly maintaining some form of touch–one arm around her shoulders, the other stroking her arm or smoothing hair away from her face. He'd also brought a legal pad in with the food and they wrote back and forth to each other while she ate.

Finally finishing the soup, she wrote:

_The soup and the tea felt wonderful on my throat. Thank you so much for bringing them._

_You're certainly welcome, my love. Can I get you anything else?_

_No._

Suddenly she sat up straight and sat the notepad aside. With a mischievous look on her face she turned and started digging around in the drawer of her nightstand.

When she turned back around, she held one hand behind her back and wrote with the other:

_I almost forgot to give you your Valentine's Day present. It doesn't nearly match your overabundance of gifts and I ran out of time to wrap it but I hope you like it. _

She held out a CD case to him. He took it from her and read the writing on it then looked at her quizzically.

He wrote: _Where did you get this?_

_I found it on the internet. Someone apparently recorded the show. It's pretty good quality._

His eyes lit up in amazement and he pulled her to him and gave her a deeply passionate kiss, germs be damned.

One of the things they had discovered early on about themselves was not only that they shared an obsessive love of music but also that they were both big Ryan Adams fans and his version of Oasis' _Wonderwall_ was one of their favorite songs. Besides the fact that they both had seen him in concert several times, they also found out that they had both been at his last Seattle concert several months' back, where he had finally played _Wonderwall._ They both were amazed to realize that they had been in the same building, may have even seen each other and not even known at the time that they would later meet. Bella had found a bootleg recording of the concert online and downloaded it and burned it to a CD.

Bella wrote again on the pad:

_I know we've both talked about that show, and Wonderwall…but what I didn't tell you was how much that song affected me that particular night. As you know, I was still mourning Jacob and the entire time Ryan sang that song I cried. I almost ran out and left the entire concert. The song's words affected me so deeply because I thought I would never again have someone like that, someone I could love, who would love me back so completely…I was pleading in my mind for someone–I was so tired of hurting and I just wanted to feel whole again. And there you were, right there in the same room with me the entire time and I didn't even know it._

She was nervous for his reaction, but when he finally looked up from what she'd written, pure love shone from his eyes.

He wrote back:

_I wish I had been with you that night, I wish I had known you…I would have held you and kissed all your tears away. _

A brief look of sadness flashed across his face. His protectiveness of her always touched her so deeply. She took the notepad back to write–she needed to put a smile back on his face.

_Well you're here now, taking wonderful care of me…even with my gross germs._

It worked. His eyebrows raised and his lips stretched into that gorgeous crooked smile she loved so much.

He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. She playfully pushed his face away.

_Stop it! You're going to get this bug that I have and then I'm going to have to take care of __you!_

_Umm…then I hope I __do__ get sick! _

He drew a smiley face and she rolled her eyes.

She tried to hold back a yawn and he realized she must be getting tired again. He held up a finger to get her attention. He shifted on the bed, reaching into his pocket for one last gift he had for her. He held out a square, flat, velvet box to her. She looked at him with an exasperated expression.

_Now, what is this?_

He held up both hands in self-defense and then wrote:

_This is the last gift, I swear._

She narrowed her eyes at him but he just grinned back at her.

She finally flipped open the lid and stopped breathing for a moment. Inside was a silver chain with two hearts, entwined together, hanging from the silver links. The symbolism of the joined hearts would have meant enough, but the actual hearts themselves said so much more. The hearts _were_ she and Edward…made of imperfect, bumpy, battered silver that was now polished and shiny and new again.

She stared at it for the longest time, causing Edward to become a little concerned that maybe he had gone overboard. He was afraid it might be too soon for a gift of jewelry but when he'd seen it in the boutique window he just knew he had to get it for her. They had been together such a short time but their connection felt so strong…they _were_ those two hearts–linked, he hoped, forever.

She finally looked up at him with such shock and amazement, tears shining in her eyes.

She grabbed the pad.

_Oh Edward! It's absolutely beautiful! I love it!_

Edward let out a breath and smiled at her. She immediately took the necklace out of the box and held it up to him. As he took it from her she held her hair up, indicating that she wanted him to put it on her. He did so and then watched as the hearts dropped down to land perfectly onto her neck. They hung just below the hollow of her throat. He bent down and brushed his lips gently over the hollow, brushing his forehead against her throat for a moment, relishing the connection with her…with her skin, with her body, with her soul.

When he finally raised his head she placed her hand gently on his cheek and stared at him adoringly. He closed his eyes briefly in contentment before opening them again and staring back at her.

Suddenly she thought of one more gift she could give him. She'd only had two days of her sign language class so far, and all she knew was the alphabet but it would be enough.

She removed her hand from his face and started hesitantly forming letters with her hand, pausing a couple of times to remember exactly how to position her fingers for certain letters.

_I love you_, she signed.

His eyes widened in surprise and then pride as he watched her. He had no clue she had learned any signing yet. He beamed back at her and signed back his response to her, going slowly, as he could tell she was concentrating on each letter and translating it in her head.

_I love you too, my love._

Her look of joy when he was done and she realized she had been able to understand exactly what he said was the only gift he needed.

He went back to the notepad to make it easier for her.

_It's getting late and I know you're exhausted. I'm going to leave and let you get some rest._

_Wait! Don't go yet…stay with me until I fall asleep?_

He nodded at her. He got up and took the tray and the soup bowl and tea mug into the kitchen and came back to get her settled under the comforter. He was just starting to lie down next to her when she sat up again and wrote something on the notepad again.

_What are the signs for Happy Valentine's Day?_

Being a long phrase for using the individual alphabet signs, he instead showed her the specific signs for each of the individual words. He moved his hands slowly and he watched her concentrate intently on his hand and finger movements and how they curled and flexed and moved in space to form the words. When he was done she signed the words back to him.

_Happy Valentine's Day Edward._

_Happy Valentine's Day, my beautiful Bella_, he signed back to her.

She smiled sleepily and lay down in the bed again before scrawling one more sentence on the note pad.

_Oh and Edward? Thank you…this was the best Valentine's Day I've ever had. _

He grinned happily, bending down and leaving his usual feather light kisses on each of her eyelids. Then he settled in on top of the comforter next to her, curling his body around hers and softly stroking her hair as she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

_**A/N:**_

_**Here is the link to Bella's heart necklace:**_

_**http://www (dot) etsy (dot) com/view_?listing_id=38505081**_

_**So what was your best Valentine's Day gift?**_


End file.
